The Small Shall Be Strong

A History of Lake Tahoe's Washoe Indians

Matthew S. Makley

Details

Description

For thousands of years the Washoe people have lived in the shadows of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. At the center of their lands sits beautiful Lake Tahoe, a name derived from the Washoe word Da ow a ga.

Perhaps because the Washoe population has always been small or because it has been more peaceful than other tribal communities, its history has never been published. In The Small Shall Be Strong, Matthew S. Makley demonstrates that, in spite of this lack of scholarly attention, Washoe history is replete with broad significance. The Washoes, for example, gained culturally important lands through the 1887 Dawes Act. And during the 1990s, the tribe sought to ban climbing on one of its most sacred sites, Cave Rock, a singular instance of Native sacred concerns leading to restrictions.

The Small Shall Be Strong illustrates a history and raises a broad question: How might greater scholarly attention to the numerous lesser-studied tribes in the United States compel a rethinking of larger historical narratives?

Reviews

"Matthew S. Makley situates Washoe survival in the cultural worldview and actions of Washoe individuals themselves. A complex and sensitive history of an Indian community that has generally been overlooked by scholars, this book makes key contributions to the fields of Indian history and Western history as well as to environmental history."—Jeffrey P. Shepherd, author of We Are an Indian Nation: A History of the Hualapai People

Author

Matthew S. Makley is professor of history at Metropolitan State University of Denver.